The Daunting Task Of The 2-3-2

[DEEP3CL]

OK just some quick facts about the 2-3-2 format instituted in 1985.


Home Team Wins First Two Games : 9 times

Road Team Wins First Two Games : 2 times

Teams Split First Two Games : 9 times ( 2 teams won win title: LA 85, CHI 98 (neither had HCA)

Home Team Wins Middle Three Games : 2 times (Piston 04 & Heat 06)

Road Team Wins Middle Three Games : 3 times (Lakers '01 , Lakers'02 , Pistons'90 )

Home Team Wins Last Two Games : 2 times

Road Team Wins Last Two Games : 0 times

Only 3 of the last 25 NBA Finals series have went 7 games. Basically this means the home teams have been taking care of business, and finding a way to steal one of those games on the road. And only 4 teams have won the title without having HCA (95'Rockets, 98'Bulls, 04'Pistons, 06'Heat)

The task (if the Lakers get to the Finals) is to find a way to win all 3 middle home games. It was only done twice in the formats 25 year existence. The Lakers were the victim of it in 2004 against the Pistons. Simply put you have to play damn near flawless basketball for those 3 games, going back to 04 against the Pistons the Lakers almost came close spoiling it as the road team. I think it was game 4 where Shaq was wrecking destruction on the Pistons when all of a sudden he couldn't get the rock. The Lakers lost 88-80, and that was the closest game in Detroit.

This time though experience may be on the Lakers side simply because of the sting that resonates from that Celtic ambush in 08. The fact that the "home"( the team without HCA ) team has only won the middle 3 games twice always places the weight of winning either Game 1 or 2 starting out.

And if you look at the teams that won those 3 road games, they all had one common trait.....they played lock down defense and had a guy that could take over games.

And since the format came into play there have only been 4 series that have been 4-0 sweeps. Also since 2005 the teams without HCA have only managed to win a total of 10 games out of 28 games. The last 3 Finals only have the team without HCA winning 3 times total.

Bottom line family all I'm saying is gear up for an emotional playoff run. History will have to made if we can squeeze this one off.

[CowsMoo]

It'll take alot of mental toughness to win 3 in a row (especially the middle three.) I just hope we don't get outworked.

[Slava]

This season's win is going to be a lot more dramatic than last season imo. Either Orlando or Cleveland will stretch it to 6 or 7 games.

[crazy8ights]

We got enough playoff experience to make history, I believe in Phil and Kobe for leadership.

[Optms]

If we get to the Finals, by then - Pssht. You can forget it. This team will be on destroy mode. The mentality of this team led by Phil and Bryant will be the bull with the other team being the matador. The advantage of having this veteran club is that we won't get rattled, too. Whoever matches up against us in the Finals is going to have play perfect basketball to ultimately overthrow us.

[snaquille oatmeal]

We got enough playoff experience to make history, I believe in Phil and Kobe for leadership.

Stu unloading his guns in 3...2...1!

[daddyfivestar]

So after Orlando knocks out the Cavs again..............

are you saying th Lakers want the 3 and not the 2 and 2?

[supaflash]

No, he's saying that the 2-3-2 is a bigger advantage for the home team then the standard format. I've always thought this as well as it is harder to win 3 in a row, then to get 2, lose, come back and get the 3rd.

We were a huge collapse away from doing it in 08 so its definitely not impossible.

If we get to the finals and face CLE, I think getting one of those first two will be absolutely key. There is a chance Shaq and Bron will be worn down if they get that far as they will probably have 2 tougher battles then we will to get there (not necessarily talent wise, but more physical then any matchups we will face.) We get one of those first two and it will really put the pressure on Bron and Co and at worst we'll go back to Cle with 2 chances to win it.

If we don't get one of the first two, I think we still can win all 3 though, Cle becomes more predictable in a series imo, but it will be hard. No matter how well Ron plays Bron, chances are he's going to get hot and go off once in a 3 game stretch. Whether we can survive that or not would be scary.

[chefy]

if we play smart in the 1st/2nd/3rd round that would help a lot

get rid of the weak teams we supposed to beat, quickly...other than the cavs we should try to avoid going to 7 games with other teams. A 4-0-4-1 victory would be nice in the 1st or 2nd round.

that would help physically and mentally ..more resting time, fresh legs, confidence would go up, more time to study clev...

[Anklebreaker702]

I like our chances either way. If we are the road team, get a split. If we are the home team, take the 1st 2 & find a way to take 1 of 3 on the road.

[chefy]

plus we should try to make ron more involve on offense....post him up

[That Nicka]

IMO the key is stealing one of the first two games on the road more so than winning the middle three.

[Edrees]

Personally, I could see the Lakers stealing one of the first two games, cleveland stealing 1 of the 3 right back, then the lakers winning on the road in game 6 or 7...

[The Skyhook]

Lakers- Magic Finals rematch. Matt Barnes better watch out. Last time he pissed off a lot of guys on this Lakers team.

[daddyfivestar]

Personally, I could see the Lakers stealing one of the first two games, orlando stealing 1 of the 3 right back, then the lakers winning on the road in game 6 or 7...

[Desiderium]

sorry to burst everyones bubble but seeing how we played the ENTIRE season, we wont even go to 6 or 7 games against the top teams. something needs to change and change fast. im not too worried about the western conference...but if we face cleveland in the finals and play like this, they will walk all over us.

[Tee212]

sadly im already thinking its a first round exit for us. our bench and fisher sucks ass....altho he did managed to finish a few layups a couple games ago. ..im goin into the post season with the losing mindset hoping to see some positives.

[96 Til Infiniti]

sadly im already thinking its a first round exit for us. our bench and fisher sucks ass....altho he did managed to finish a few layups a couple games ago. ..im goin into the post season with the losing mindset hoping to see some positives.

get that negative energy outta here.

no doubt our struggles over the last couple months are reason for concern, but realize this roller coaster season for the lakers would be historically great for 95% of the nba's franchises. we're still the defending champs and until otherwise i'll go into every series with the expectation that we're winning and advancing.

like derek fisher said in a recent interview, if we lose it's not going to be because of something the other team did or didn't do. it's on us. we are STILL more than capable of winning it all.

[supaflash]

Sad as it may seem, Fish is actually playing better right now then he was last year. Anyone remember how bad he was at this point last year? At least he's shooting the ball ok

[Gerald3Wallace]

funny, we 'suck' so bad but we are still first in the west..lakers are going to turn it up in the playoffs.

i hope